Densetsu no Sannin
by He Who Writes Monsters
Summary: How strong is Friendship? For the Densetsu no Sannin, its bonds surpass all others. Village, dreams, even life and death pale before the loyalty they hold to each other. AU, Sannincentric
1. The Colour of Rain

**A/N:** This is my new "Sannin-centric" fanfic - taken from the Challenges section of Mortalone's profile. This will replace "Otogakure no Sato", as it will have much of the same plot, but enhanced and just better written overall. Hope you enjoy! (Original Ideas FTW!)

Chapter 1:

The Colour of Rain:

"The battle is over." The darkened sky pelted the ground with rain, and Orochimaru was, as he often was at such times, struck with a particularly inane thought – in this case; what is the colour of water?

It was a simple answer, of course, and complicated in its own way. In the sky, it was dark, the colour of carrion-crows and evil intentions – the pit of darkness in each man's soul. By the time it hit the ground, it was red, the colour of blood, and anger, and violence – the same red that stained his hands, and clothes, weighed him down with the sin of murder, provided the sole remembrance for those he had killed – and there were so very many. Black was an empty colour, but red… was _alive_, and full of purpose.

Red, the colour of Jiraiya – who wore a red shirt under his green Chuunin's vest, and had red clan-tattoos adorning his face, and had red, fiery determination in his gaze, and his actions. He stood tall, but limp, and Tsunade had to hold him to prevent him from falling. The same red that marked his soul covered his body, as blood that had erupted from his wound – a wound only sealed by the blue-coloured medical chakra of Tsunade. (He had suffered that on their first attack – attempted to defeat him with Taijutsu, only to be caught by a sudden Katana blow, which ripped him almost in two. Miracle he was still alive.)

Blue… mixed with the damp, straw-yellow of her hair, made the Green that Tsunade favoured, though it was stained irrevocably dark brown – covered with her blood, and Jiraiya's blood, and _his_ blood, from the many injuries they had sustained over this battle. Green, the colour of life, and vitality – the vitality that drove her to glare at their sole remaining enemy, even as it was clear they were outmatched. (Even though they outnumbered him, he could defeat all three of them, with only a casual effort.)

Blue mixed within him, too, mixed with the red that stained his soul, and provided Purple – a colour Orochimaru had always associated with _power_, with _purpose_, with _majesty_. A shame, that his robe was tattered and singed, by the Katon that their foe was capable of, regardless of rain.(Testament to his strength, to defy the natural order so easily)

He was Grey, lifeless metallic colours, rusted from use and condition. Clunky steel headgear, layers of metal armour in the style of a samurai – even his eyes were a cold grey, unsullied by passions. Hanzō, the Salamander King, strongest shinobi of Amegakure no Sato. Their victorious enemy.

"The battle is over," he repeated, voice distorted by his mouthpiece. "Even were I to kill you, then I would be killed in turn. You three… for such young warriors, you have impressed me greatly. I, Hanzō, command you to, from now on, use the title of _Densetsu no Sannin_, for your deeds here. Go from this place, young ones – the battle is over." Flinty grey words from a metal, lipless mouth. His grey-scaled salamander groaned, and Hanzō stood there, rain pelting down across his form, awaiting their answer.

"You… _bastard!_ It's… it's not over _yet!_" Jiraiya tried to take a step forward, faltered, and was caught by Tsunade. Orochimaru glanced at his team-mates, considered them. He could continue fighting, but not for much longer. His energy had been spent long ago – he only now regretted forcing his enemies to _sing_, before he killed them. Were he to fight Hanzō; alone or with the aid of the others, they would all be killed.

"Don't push it, Jiraiya! You can't fight any more!" Tsunade had to physically drag Jiraiya away, whilst the white-haired member of their team tried to push his way through to Hanzō. Whilst Tsunade had the greatest physical strength in their team, Jiraiya was truly the most courageous, or foolhardy, depending on what kind of mood Orochimaru happened to be in.

"We should retreat," he said, silky-soft, but both his team-mates heard. Tsunade silently thanked him, as his words could do more to stop Jiraiya than her actions. Jiraiya gaped at him.

"Orochimaru… you sayin' we should _give up?_" The way Jiraiya phrased it, Orochimaru had just asked him to cut off his manhood. _Foolish, foolish child._

"Retreat, regroup, readdress priorities. He is beyond us. To continue to fight will lead to our deaths. We will get another chance." Tsunade joined in quickly, nodding her head and keeping up the barrage against Jiraiya's ego.

"Come on, Jiraiya – we'll kick his ass next time, just you wait and see. We just… we just need to heal up, refill our chakra levels, that's all." Tsunade glanced back at the immobile Hanzō, and then turned away. Jiraiya glared at both of his team-mates half-heartedly.

"Fine…" he muttered. "We'll do it your way, but next time… next time, we'll do this _my_ way." _Hollow, empty bravado. We know there will not be a next time. For us, the war is over._

"Next time," he agreed. Tsunade shouldered the weight of Jiraiya, and then the three of them ran, as Hanzō turned away, to attend to his village. The battle was over. Though war still continued, Orochimaru knew, as two full squadrons of Iwa-nin attacked them mid-way to their base-of-operations.

--

"K-kuso!" Jiraiya gasped, and he spasmed, jerking the hands of Tsunade.

"Stop squirming! I need to set the bone!" Tsunade wiped sweat from her brow, uncaring that she merely replaced it with blood. Jiraiya gritted his teeth as she pulled at his rib, removing it from its prior position, dangerously close to puncturing a lung, and then healed the gaping, heaving tear in his abdomen. She glanced at Orochimaru, who was seated against a wall, breathing heavily. His hands were black now, so coated in dried blood – he, once out of chakra, resorted to the brutal method of _tearing_ his enemies apart, from the inside out. Taijutsu was not his strong point, however, and one of the Iwa shinobi had managed to slip past his guard, and almost impale him with a sword, moments before Orochimaru had torn his throat out. Tsunade hurried to his side, placed hands over the wound.

"Kami… Orochimaru, you should have _said_ something…" she said, and focused medical chakra to her hands. She was near exhaustion, Orochimaru could tell – the weariness on her face, the shiver that seemed to course through her _entire_ body… When she was done, she nearly collapsed, legs turned to jelly beneath her.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya half-crawled, half-scrambled over to her, and Tsunade gave him a small, weak smile.

"I'm still alive, _baka._ Didn't think I was going to go and leave Orochimaru alone with you, huh?"

They had taken shelter in a cave. Moving further, with such extensive injuries, was impossible. Outside, the storm still raged, and inside, Jiraiya did so – who knew what Hanzō was doing now; who he was _killing_ – killing, when they could have fought him, stopped him. They were in no condition to do so now, Orochimaru knew – they would, most likely, be unable even to fight another Chuunin team of Iwa shinobi.

_The Densetsu no Sannin, eh?_ They said legends were formed during war – how ironic it would be if this legend was snuffed out during its infancy. He smiled, and then coughed blood, hacking and wheezing.

"Orochimaru! Oh Kami, oh Kami…" Tsunade tried to stand, failed, and then Orochimaru's breathing slowly turned back to normal. "I'm sorry! I… I ran out of Chakra… I…" she was weeping, Orochimaru could see, though he could not understand why. Was it due to her weakness? Or his pain? Or war in general?

"I… am fine… Just need… rest…" He collapsed, gave a pained grin, though his chest was aflame.

"Shit… we're a _mess_…" Jiraiya said, holding a sobbing Tsunade in his arms. "We almost bit it back there, huh, Orochimaru?"

"Observant, aren't you… Jiraiya-baka?" Had it been a less solemn time, Orochimaru may even have smiled – their banter, verging on the insulting, was a key component of their team.

"Heh. As observant as you are _tactful_, Orochi-teme." A mock sneer, and Jiraiya stuck his tongue out – the signal for Orochimaru to respond with his own, overlarge tongue.

"Both of you… stop it…" Tsunade said weakly. "We… almost _died_. We shouldn't… shouldn't be fighting… who _knows_ when the bastards will finish us off…"

"No." Jiraiya's voice was gentle, but firm, and suddenly serious. "We're not gonna die. Not us, 'cause we've got the best damned medic-nin _ever_ on our team, and we've got the strongest shinobi ever, too. Orochimaru's not bad, either." He winked at his pale team-mate, who rolled his eyes. All part of their pantomime. "Still," he continued, "we're the strongest, because we work as a _team._ That's not gonna change." He fumbled for a kunai, then thought better of it. "Nah, there's no point in cutting ourselves again – there's enough blood here for a fuckin' _surgery_. Just… you two, put your hands on mine." Tsunade complied, a curious smile on her weary face, and Orochimaru slightly more hesitantly. Jiraiya grinned. "Right, now repeat after me. We three…"

"We three," his team-mates said.

"The _Densetsu no Sannin_…"

"The _Densetsu no Sannin,"_ Tsunade traded an anxious glance with Orochimaru. When Jiraiya came up with something like this at short notice, it usually meant that there would be great changes ahead of them.

"Will stick together, through thick or thin, for better or worse, _no matter what_, until our dreams are fulfilled."

"Jiraiya…" Tsunade started to say, leaving _This isn't going to work_ hanging in the air.

"Say it." _It will. I promise._ What was left _unsaid_ was another vital part of their team – what made them _them_, and not anyone else.

"Will stick together," Orochimaru began. "Through thick or thin." _I believe you._ Jiraiya wasn't the kind to make empty promises.

"For better or worse," Tsunade added. _If you two are so determined about this…_ "_No matter what."_ They both said this at the same time. "Until our dreams are fulfilled." Jiraiya grinned, and it spread, infectious, to first Tsunade, then Orochimaru.

"We're gonna get through this, you'll see. We'll get through this, and get back to Konoha, and when we've healed up, we'll take down Hanzō together. We'll win this war, and then… well…"

"You two… are going to be at my wedding, right?" Tsunade picked up. "I won't have anyone other than my team-mates there, when I marry Dan. I'll have twins, you know, and I'll name them after you – and we'll be a family." A smile, this time genuine, on the face of Tsunade, and Jiraiya nodded eagerly. _Yellow. That's what colour was being shown now – yellow; peace, calm, joy._

"Sure thing, sure thing. I'll make sure to invite you guys, too, if I finally lose my senses and tie the knot with some hot chick." He smiled, in that dream-like, perverted manner they were accustomed to, then it became suddenly sly, and he turned to Orochimaru. "Heh. What about you, Orochimaru? Any girls got your interest? Or are you about ready to come out of the closet, perhaps? Don't worry, we won't judge you, or nothing." Hn. They were always badgering him – 'you won't stay young forever', as Jiraiya would say, or Tsunade, in a more sombre tone of voice – 'you never know when you'll go out for a mission, and might not come back.'

"The only thing I love…" he began slowly, giving a smile of his own, pretending not to notice the two hanging onto his every word, "is my dream. You could say… that I am _already_ married to it."

"Oh? And what's this dream of yours?" Jiraiya smirked. Orochimaru closed his eyes, and began to recite it – the dream he had held since childhood.

"A world, Jiraiya, where this does not occur – a world where the old do not suffer, and the young do not fall. A world where all people may live as they desire, without fear of injury or defeat. A world, Jiraiya, without _death_."

Silence, except for the crackling of their fire, and the sound, faint on the wind, of a clacking puppet. Orochimaru opened his eyes, snake-quick, to see Jiraiya deep in concentration. With body-language and hand-signals, he communicated silently: _Five of them – outside, twenty, no, twenty-five metres away. They've seen our fire; they're closing in on us._

_What do we do? I'm out of chakra._ There was a panicked tone in Tsunade's communication – shaky signals, wide-eyed anxiety. _Oh Kami… I don't want to die-don't want to die…_

_Tsunade – get to the back. Me and Orochimaru will handle this._ Jiraiya turned to Orochimaru, his face set in the grim, determined scowl he had when something distasteful needed to be done.

_I will circle around – you hold them off from the front._

_Understood. How long will you need?_

_As long as you can give me. Don't be a hero._

_Don't be late._

Then they slipped away, into the cold wet darkness, to face enemies, knowing that even now, they could lose, could die.

--

The rain was Black now, in the night, no matter where it landed. Black rain pattered onto the corpse of his adversary, and ran in black rivulets down the gaping craters he had left, where it mixed with black blood, before dripping (or rushing, depending on how deep the gashes were) onto the black soil.

Such a simple view of the world – black, and white. The White of the skin of the recently deceased (or at least, it would be white if it did not have the dirt and grime of battle written across it).

Jiraiya's white hair, limp and unmoving – after Hari Jizo, it lay in the mud like a dying lion. _He_ was dying. But he had held them long enough. Done more than that, in fact – two lay dead at his feet, one with a kunai buried into his throat, one laying entangled in the heaving mass of Jiraiya's hair, where he had been punctured by the individual strands.

"Told… you… _Orochi-teme…_ Don't… be _late_…" He gave a pained smile, then shuddered. His chest was pin-pricked with senbon needles, and Orochimaru remembered that one of the men he had killed had been a puppeteer, hiding behind his wooden doll before Orochimaru took his head off, and disassembled his puppet's limbs with a single blow. (It came undone so easily, like a child's toy).

"And I told you, Jiraiya, don't be a _hero_…" His own black hair hung low, touched the face of his friend, who grimaced.

"You… picked a _hell_… of a time… Comin' out… eh, Orochimaru?" (Continue the pantomime, until the final act)

"We will survive this. You will not die here." (Won't allow it. You cannot die, it's not in my dream). He lifted the larger man, who was beginning to shudder uncontrollably, spasming as the poison destroyed him from the inside out. "Tsunade… she must know something…" (she's the best medic-nin, that's what you said).

"Heh… Sorry, bud… We _both_ know how… this works… Need to know… what poison… find cure… Too late…" _Then there was only one way_. He made the seals, laid Jiraiya onto the earth. "Orochimaru…? What… what're you _doing_?"

_Rat-Ram-Rat-Dog-Dragon-Ox-Pig-Dragon-Ox-Ram-Rat._

"Kinjutsu: Tensei no Jutsu." (Such a risk… haven't tried it… incomplete…)

Placing long, elegantly-fingered hands onto the chest of Jiraiya, Orochimaru paused a moment, then focused his chakra, his energy, his _life_ to his hands, and into Jiraiya. He screamed, and moments later so did Jiraiya. Still, he held it there, _knowing_ without seeing that he was re-building him from the inside out – destroying the poisoned, failing organs and growing new ones, restoring the damaged nervous system, infusing new supplies of blood. When he finished, he fell limply to floor, and Tsunade came running from the cave, not knowing whether there were enemies or not.

Orochimaru mustered up enough energy to look at Jiraiya with a sideways glance, saw confusion on the face of the man who had been dying.

"Why?"

"Dream… isn't… fulfilled… Jiraiya…" Mumbled into the ground, there was no way that Jiraiya could hear, but he did, and he smiled.

"I don't know _what_ you did, Orochimaru, but whatever it was… thanks."

Orochimaru couldn't hear, no matter how loud Jiraiya said it. He fell into darkness, unsure of when he would emerge, only knowing that they were safe, and they were fine, and that was all that mattered.

--

Help me get this bastard up, Tsunade…" Jiraiya sat up, reached up to pluck the needles from his chest, but they weren't there any more. He saw them lying in his lap, and ran a hand over his chest – there weren't even holes anymore.

_Jeez…_ What did you do, Orochimaru? He couldn't even feel the injuries he'd sustained before, when that bastard Hanzō had cut him apart with his sword. _Damned geezer – how'd he get so damned fast?_

He retracted his hair, uncoiling it from around the corpse of the Suna shinobi, and stood, feeling… great, in fact – fresh, as if he had not even _been_ in battle. Tsunade put hands to her mouth as she saw Orochimaru lying there – and for the life of him, Jiraiya couldn't figure out how one earth it had switched from _him_ laying down and dying, whilst Orochimaru stood over him, to _Orochimaru_ lying motionless on the floor whilst he was unharmed.

"Oh Kami… what happened, Jiraiya?" She bent down, checked the pulse of Orochimaru.

"I… I don't know… I was down – one of the Suna bastards got me with his puppet, and then the next thing I know, Orochimaru did some creepy stuff, kind-of like Medical Ninjutsu, and I was… fine. Is he okay?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"There's a pulse, but his breathing is shallow, and diagnosis points to complete chakra exhaustion, along with… Neural collapse? Oh Kami… Jiraiya, he's nearly _braindead_! I… I don't know _how_ to heal this!"

"Jeez… He said it was a Kinjutsu… What the fuck were you _thinking_, Orochimaru!? Is he okay to move?"

"He… he should be, if we're gentle…" Tsunade said, and Jiraiya lifted his frail team-mate onto his shoulders.

"Let's get out of here – Sarutobi-sensei must know _some_ technique that can help us. If we run into trouble, I'll handle it, okay? You take Orochimaru and run." _No way I'm putting him in unnecessary danger…_ He gave Tsunade a quick chakra injection, enough to ensure that she'd be able to move without floundering like a limp fish, and then the two sped away, the rain pelting them as they went.

--

Jiraiya could be patient, when he felt like it. All those times when he'd stayed in that _precise_ spot, in that _precise_ tree in Konoha, so he could see into the ladies' bath at Konoha hot springs, for _hours_ even, was testament to that.

However, even the legendary pervert would admit instantly that there was a great, _great_ difference between peeping on ladies, and waiting to hear if his friend – because Orochimaru was, even for all his strangeness, the _best_ friend of Jiraiya – would ever be able to wake up again, or if he was going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life.

He tapped his foot endlessly as he sat outside the building Sarutobi-sensei and Tsunade had commandeered for their experiment, and glared daggers at the former team-mates of Sarutobi, who had recommended that Orochimaru be left to rot for performing a Kinjutsu. He'd have smashed their old, decrepit faces in, if Sarutobi had not summoned Enma to hold him back whilst he reprimanded Homura and Koharu.

He stood immediately when Sarutobi came out, looking infinitely weary, but smiling.

"He is awake," he said, and left with his advisors to discuss just _how_ they were going to defeat Hanzō. Jiraiya immediately rushed into the building, seeing Tsunade holding Orochimaru's hand. The dark-haired member of their team gave a weak smile. _Glad to see you're okay._

"Orochimaru! What the hell were you thinking!" Jiraiya roared. _Kami… Why the _fuck_ did you put _yourself_ in danger?_

"It was… necessary…" _I survived, didn't I?_

"You could have died…" _Yeah, you did._

"I didn't." _How are you?_

"Well then… could you explain _what_ you did to me?" _I don't quite know, yet._

"Tensei no Jutsu," Tsunade explained for both of them. "It's an experimental technique, developed by Kugutsu no Chiyo – Orochimaru must have found it whilst we were infiltrating Suna. It heals at a rate unlike anything I've ever seen before – and it heals _everything_, but not just at the cost of chakra – it's life-force." _It's… unbelievable, _genius_. It could revolutionise Medical Ninjutsu!_

"Life… force? How… how much did you _use_?" _You didn't just heal the poison, you healed _everything

"I would guess… something along the lines of forty years of my life…" Orochimaru said, after a moment of thought. _It was worth it._

"That… that means…" _Kami… you could die within the next ten years…_

"I have planned for this… I will survive." _Don't ask how – you would not want to know the answer._

"What's important here… is that we're _all_ alive," Tsunade interrupted. _Through thick or thin_. She placed her other hand on top of Orochimaru's. "We're all still here." _For better or worse._

"Jeez… Just… don't do that again, Orochimaru… I don't want to live, if it means my friends die…" _Glad to see you're fine, though. It'll take more than this to kill off a genius like you._

"How… ironic. I was about to say the same thing." _We can't die yet. We have yet to complete our dreams._

"You two… always fighting…" _We will… All our dreams, because we've got each other._

"Damn right – what's life without a little competition?" _We're the Densetsu no Sannin._

"Without competition? Then life is the colour of rain." _And we are more than that. Far more._

**A/N:** So... there's the prologue. How did it look? I experimented a bit, with some "Thoughts" being in _italics_ and others being in (brackets), to show the erraticness of Orochimaru's thought processes.

Some people may find my version of him "OOC", and I suppose he is - if you like "I'm an immortal villain who will destroy Konoha!" Orochimaru, you won't find it here - this Orochimaru is not good, but neither is he wholly evil. Same with Jiraiya and Tsunade - they're not going to be perfect, pure beings - things will very much be in shades of grey. (And not just the Sannin, in fact - the whole world is shades of grey).

For reference, this is when the Sannin are in their early twenties, from Jiraiya's flashback about Hanzō a couple of chapters ago. There'll be a couple more chapters detailing their exploits during the Second Great Ninja War, then expect a quite large timeskip. I apologise if I made Tsunade seem weak here, but this chapter was very much about Orochimaru, with a bit of Jiraiya POV. Tsunade will get her time to shine, don't worry.

Reviews are appreciated, as always, and Review Focus for this chapter (i.e. what I want people to mention in their reviews as good, bad, or if it requires improvements, where), is the application of Colour to Orochimaru's view of the world.


	2. Sorrow and Rain

Chapter Two: Sorrow in the Rain.

You stopped feeling the rain after a while. The intrusive presence of water dripping through your hair and across your face and into your clothes faded eventually. The weight of dampened cloth became the accustomed weight, and for those moments when they stepped out of the rain, the Densetsu no Sannin felt, inexplicably, wrong in some way – strangers due to circumstance.

"I hate this place," Tsunade spat, as she wrung out her hair again, creating a small puddle on the floor of the abandoned barn they had taken shelter in. The drumbeat of the sky echoed off the roof, to remind them of what they faced when eventually they chose to return outside.

"You're telling me," Jiraiya snorted, as he rubbed warmth back into his arms, crouching over the pitiful fire they had managed to coax into being with repeated Katon Jutsus on damp firewood.

"We will be gone soon," Orochimaru crooned, studying a mark on his hand that had not been there previously. (How had he gotten that?) "The current border is less than a day's march from here. Sakumo-kun and the rendezvous point are just inside the border."

"Heh. I was wondering when the White Fang would show up here. Last I heard, he was down on our border with Suna, fighting off… whats-his-name… Sabaku no something-or-other…" He scowled. "Blasted Suna, why can't they be more normal, without all this 'Of the…' crap?" The implications were clear – _Damned cowards – hiding behind their walls, using puppets and poison to do their fighting for them…_

"Sabaku no Shiro – he is a student of the Sandaime Kazekage. Some say that he would be the one to succeed him, if they were not so opposed in attitude. It is impressive, that Sakumo-kun could force him back – Shiro-kun is a skilled, tricky, and rather tenacious individual." _He is almost like Suna's version of me – but I surpass him._

"Just like you, Orochimaru, to know that," Tsunade said, smiling a bit as she tied her hair off in a ponytail. _You're like a portable Bingo Book – are there any shinobi you _don't_ know?_

"Heh. Well, looks like Sakumo gets a chance to prove himself again – damned kid's so eager to show he's just as good as us… He'll get his team into some stupid situation, just you see – it'll be just like Kiri again, he'll go too far, and someone else'll pay the price." He glanced at Orochimaru, and the Sannin remembered the scar running from his left shoulder down to his hip, where he had been just too slow to avoid the slash of the Mizukage's sword. Tsunade had managed to heal it, knit the skin together, but the thin, paler-than-pale line still remained.

"Sakumo's different now," Tsunade replied, though she averted her eyes. "He's gotten older, wiser… We've rubbed off on him, I think." She took a seat next to Jiraiya, to let the heat of the fire rub off on her, before tilting her head towards Orochimaru.

"Come on – you must be cold too," she called. He was, of course – cold and wet and tired, and his muscles ached from overuse and lack of sleep, and his scar burned and chilled at the same time.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Tsunade-hime," he called back, and she mock-raised her fist, as she always did when her team-mates called her by that pet-name. Orochimaru couldn't quite understand why – the Shodai and Nidaime Hokages were related to Tsunade, her grandfather and great-uncle respectively, and for ninja, Kages were royalty. How strange, to deny authority you were born with.

He curled up in his corner, and looked outside, into the deep, dark forest, continually spotted with the ever-falling rain. By the fire, Tsunade and Jiraiya nudged each other, jostling for space, apparently, for the 'best spot', according to their heated conversation.

"I'm a lady – you should give it up," Tsunade said with a grim smile, and barged Jiraiya to the side. Everyone knew what was coming next – the standard Jiraiya response to Tsunade affirming her femininity.

"Could've fooled me, Tsunade - you're breasts are flat enough to pass for a man," Jiraiya replied with a grin, and nudged her out of the way. That was a lie, of course. Tsunade had stopped being flat-chested at the age of fourteen, and now, at twenty years of age, had breasts so large that they were a visible bulge under her shirt, even with the chest-bindings. Calling her 'Flat-chested Tsunade' was just as much a part of their language as 'Jiraiya-baka' or 'Orochi-teme'.

As the two squabbled over the same space, Orochimaru traced one of his too-long fingers along the puckered stripe on his back, running parallel to his spine. That was formerly the closest he had come to death, before he used Tensei no Jutsu… he could feel it – the strength of this body was deteriorating rapidly – the chakra capacity, the reflexes, even his ability to move was failing him. He would have to find another body, take another risk, use another untested Kinjutsu…

His thoughts scattered as someone wrapped an arm around his throat, iron banded and unyielding. He had time to squawk indignantly before Tsunade hauled him from his perch and dragged him to the fire, kicking and scratching and hissing on reflex. Tsunade kept going, grimacing when sharp nails gouged into the flesh of her arm, but still walking on before dumping him in a sullen heap next to Jiraiya, who was nursing a swollen lump on his head. Then, whilst she focused medical chakra to her hands, and began to heal the scratches on her, she spoke.

"We're a team – you might think it's cool to sit about in the dark and brood, but your team chooses to sit here, so you're going to as well." No getting out of this, Orochimaru – you're one of us, and you're going to stay with us. Orochimaru kept sullenly silent, and Tsunade's face drooped – whenever Orochimaru felt he was being led, he would react negatively, and today was no different, it seemed. She gave Jiraiya a look, and he understood – _Help me out, Jiraiya, or Orochimaru will just sulk for the next few hours._

_Should've left him there, Tsunade_, Jiraiya said back, without opening his mouth. A vein throbbed on Tsunade's head.

_You know it was the right thing to do_, she communicated with a single disapproving frown, and Jiraiya sighed, and gave in to the pressure of starting a conversation.

"Tsk, Tsunade-hime – I know we're all about being a team, and all, but we're still individuals… what's next, huh? You gonna make us all go to the toilet together or something?" _Why'd you have to hit me so hard, anyway?_

"Ha, ha, Jiraiya. If I left you two to do whatever you wanted, you'd probably be out peeping on women, and Orochimaru would be doing who-knows-what in some basement somewhere." Jiraiya snorted, then pointed an accusing finger.

"Ha! And you'd be out getting drunk, and gambling." _Remember the time we went to Kumo, and you lost all our money playing poker?_

"Che, I'll have you know I'm a very responsible young woman." _I got it back, didn't I?_

"Only some of the time, Tsunade," Orochimaru said, keeping his eyes on the ground, where he was tracing something in the dirt with a long finger. _I forgive you._ "You were lucky that we found work guarding the Daimyo's son – I would have supported Jiraiya's choice otherwise." Jiraiya's face split open in a grin.

"Ah, Tsunade-hime, you would have looked brilliant in that outfit – we'd have gotten rich in no time, if you'd joined up with that brothel…" Tsunade hit him, a punch in the arm, more to keep things going than anything else – to keep up the pantomime for as long as the fire kept burning. Jiraiya rubbed his arm and grumbled.

"You pervert! Always thinking about sex!" _You think I'd have actually joined up?_

"Y'know, Tsunade, A wise man once said that everyone's perverted, and the only way to live properly is to give in to being a pervert, stop fighting it, and buy a telescope."

"Oh? And would this 'wise man' be you, by any chance, Jiraiya?" They all knew the answer, of course.

"Nah, nah… I may be great and all, but I'm just a man, and the guy I'm talkin' about is a God… the God of Shinobi, Sarutobi-sensei!"

It had been a bit of a shock, when they had discovered the perverted tastes of the Sandaime Hokage – though he had been their sensei before he'd taken up the title, it was impossible to think of him as anything else – it had been Jiraiya, of course, looking through his desk 'just to see what he's got', that had found the calendar of scantily clad ninja in suggestive poses.

"Yuck! What makes you think I'll be a pervert just because Sarutobi-sensei is?" Tsunade stuck out her tongue, and Jiraiya crossed his arms with a victorious smirk.

_Sarutobi-sensei said it, and he's smarter than you, so he's right._

"At least Orochimaru isn't a pervert like you, Jiraiya-baka," she said at length, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Orochimaru glanced up at the sudden contact, and Tsunade leant into him.

"I know that I can at least trust Orochimaru not to sneak a peek at me whenever he has the opportunity, eh, Oro-kun?" That was new – a new name thrown into the old cycle of name-calling, and the Sannin paused a moment, to consider it.

"Yes… of course, Tsu-chan," Orochimaru gave a sickly sweet smile, testing the waters with words. "Unlike Ji-kun, I don't… violate women…" Leaving things necessarily vague enough for Jiraiya to continue with the next jibe.

"Yeah… we all know you're into boys, Oro-kun." Orochimaru smiled, flicked his far-too-large tongue, as the others shivered in delighted disgust. All part of the pantomime, of course – just so long as they could forget about what was outside, focus on themselves. Humanity fairly demanded selfishness, at least on that level.

At length, Jiraiya grunted, as the firewood burnt into ashes.

"Time to go, then," he groaned, and stood, stretching out his limbs and glaring at the rain dripping down outside. Orochimaru did a quick mental calculation – it had been six days and seventeen hours, now, since there had been a break in the rainfall.

He glanced down at the drawing he had sketched in the dirt, memorised it, then erased it without a second thought. Idly, he wondered _why_ exactly he had drawn Tsunade's severed head.

--

"Jeez… You guys got any food? I'm starved." Jiraiya rubbed his stomach, and Tsunade rolled her eyes.

Pack it in, Jiraiya… We're at most an hour away from our rendezvous point.

"Aw, but Tsunade-hime…" _S'not fair – You might be willing to starve yourself, but I need food._

"I smell… fire," Orochimaru said suddenly, and the other two took a sniff.

"That's not a cooking fire, though… It's too strong…" Jiraiya pointed at a plume of dark smoke on the horizon. _Over there! I'm gonna check it out!_ He took a great, frog-like leap, before either Tsunade or Orochimaru could protest. They shared a look, exchanged a conversation in a single glance.

_Can't let him go by himself… Baka will just get killed._

_Agreed. Hit him for me, would you, Tsunade-hime?_ Then they leapt after Jiraiya, towards the rising cloud of smoke, smelling ominously of burning flesh – conjuring memories Orochimaru would rather forget.

--

Jiraiya looked in shock at the burning village, standing stock-still as his team-mates reached him.

"Jiraiya! What were you…" Tsunade trailed off as she took in the scene, saw a wailing woman brought down by a lazily-flung shuriken, a man lifting his arms to futilely attempt to ward off a Katon. He was incinerated, screaming until it burned through his lungs. She saw the glint of light reflect off a hitai-ate, bearing the symbol of Konoha.

"Impossible," she breathed, and one of the ninja turned to them – copper-brown hair, cold dead eyes, bisected by a scar that had mutilated his nose. Just above his lustre-less eyes, a Konoha hitai-ate cast a shadow over his face.

"You… what the _fuck_ are you doing!?" Jiraiya almost roared, and seemed to grow – he had always been a big man, but normally, he held himself in a manner that made him seem unthreatening, jovial. Now, he looked ready and willing to tear limbs off. However, the target of his rage was unfazed – he didn't seem capable of feeling anything, one way or another.

"We are here under the authority of Danzou, Captain-Commander of the ANBU Corps. Our orders are to destroy potential insurgency, by eliminating those that aid our enemies or hinder our progress. This village had held a platoon of Iwa shinobi for weeks, healing them."

"So you're butchering civilians!?"

"They are enemies, healing our enemies. Do not interfere – this matter is outside of your jurisdiction…" His words trailed off into silence as Jiraiya covered the distance between them and threw a punch into the face of the scarred shinobi, impacting amidst the ruin of his nose and sending him skidding back with a cry of pain. Immediately, all eyes turned to Jiraiya and his team.

"What kinda scum are you… Think I'm not gonna step in to defend civilians, huh? Think I'm gonna let you murder them? You sick, sorry excuse for a ninja…" He took a step forward, and a half-dozen of the ninja assembled drew weapons. Another traded glance between Orochimaru and Tsunade.

_Looks like we have no choice…_ Tsunade communicated with closed eyes and a weary smile.

_I had hoped we would avoid a situation like this,_ Orochimaru replied, then stretched his arm out, ready for one of his signature abilities.

"Now!" Tsunade yelled, and Orochimaru felt the snakes writhe inside his arm.

"Sen'eijashu," he hissed, and six violet serpents erupted from various points on his arm, before coiling around Jiraiya, binding his arms to his sides and pulling him back, dragging heels through the earth to create twin furrows as he yelped in surprise.

"Oi! Whatcha doing, Orochi-teme?" he began, jerking his head around to level Orochimaru with his furious, disappointed, betrayed glare. _Don't tell me you agree with them?_ Orochimaru stared back dispassionately. _This is nothing to do with my views on the matter._

"We're leaving." Tsunade spoke next, firmly, and Jiraiya's face turned to her, all the more hurt – he might at least expect such an act from Orochimaru, but not from Tsunade. _Not you too…_ he cried out with hurt-creased eyes. "We're all from the same village here – we don't have the need or the time to fight each other. So… we're leaving."

"But Tsu-" Jiraiya was cut off when Tsunade punched him in the cheek. Not as hard as she could – if she had done so, his neck would most likely be broken. Hard enough, though, to loosen teeth.

"We're leaving, Jiraiya," she repeated, this time unable to fully conceal a sob, and Jiraiya saw written in her eyes – _Nawaki…_

"Fine then…" he muttered sullenly. "Just let go of me, Orochi-teme – I won't start trouble." He gave a final hateful glare to the shinobi still watching them, and then their leader, the scarred man gave a hand signal and they dispersed, to continue their butchery.

--

They had walked in silence for almost half an hour, now, and Tsunade knew that it was due to her. Jiraiya, more than he blamed Orochimaru, blamed her for their abandoning the village to its fate. It seemed that he hadn't remembered that he was the only one of them fit for combat; that Orochimaru could drop dead at any moment if he wasn't careful; that they would be fighting Konoha shinobi, under the direct order of Danzō. Regardless of whether they were in the right or not, then there would definitely be repercussions for them for such an act.

"Jiraiya…" she began, but faltered. Jiraiya was possessed of a… virtue, a selfless desire to truly put others before him – something that Tsunade both envied and despised. Envied, because she was unsure of whether she could still do the same, after what had happened to Nawaki, and despised, because he became so _naïve_ when faced with problems such as these. Now, he was, quite purposefully, ignoring her, head held high. "You can't save everyone," she managed to continue, the words coming out easier when laced with the bitter memories of Nawaki. He scowled, and responded in a low growl.

"Oh? Is that what you think, Tsunade-_hime_?" He had never said it like that, before, never so bitter before. "What's the point of even trying, huh? What's the point of trying if you're just gonna give up, because 'you can't save everyone'. How'd you decide whose worth saving, _huh_?" _What'd you do if we decided _you_ weren't worth saving, _he fairly screamed, with face and posture.

"There were no children," Orochimaru interjected, and both his team-mates gave him odd glances. "If there had been a child in danger, Tsunade would have died before allowing it to be harmed. Isn't that right, Tsunade-hime?" He gave her an odd, lopsided look, and Tsunade didn't miss that Jiraiya was, ever-so-slightly, looking at her from the corner of his eye to see her reaction. She _really_ didn't want to have to answer the question – didn't want to have to justify herself. _You two know me! You two know what the answer is already._ But Jiraiya _needed_ her to say it. He probably thought that she _needed_ to say it. She probably did – to keep her firmly on the side that Jiraiya took – using your heart over your head, instead of Orochimaru's, where cold logic dominated every action, and feelings were never taken into account.

"Yeah… I would…" Nawaki's smiling face covered her vision for a moment. "That's how I decide – I'd save those that… can't possibly defend themselves. Wouldn't you?" Addressed Orochimaru this time – deflect this inquisition of her onto the third member of their team. Orochimaru frowned, as he realised Jiraiya was waiting for his answer, and that what he said could change their relationship in innumerable ways.

"No… I wouldn't. It is… inefficient." He saw Jiraiya clench his fists, and half-smiled. "I would save those that mean the most to me," he continued, and _felt_ rather than saw Jiraiya pause, and scowl as he remembered what Orochimaru had done for him. "If the two coincide… then so be it." He looked directly into Tsunade's eyes, and she shivered at the almost apologetic malevolence in his glare. "Had I been capable, I would not have saved Nawaki, for those reasons." Tsunade could faintly hear Jiraiya breathe in sharply, but she found herself _incapable_ of breathing. A single word, that turns her world cold.

"Orochimaru…" It's Jiraiya that falters in making a sentence now, and just glares instead. _Why would you say that? _Why

"Tsunade is correct. You cannot save everyone. So whom do you save? Those that mean nothing to you, or those that do?"

"Kami… You're a _real_ piece of work, Orochimaru…" He spat on the side of the road, and said nothing more – he's angry with Orochimaru, but hasn't forgiven Tsunade yet, either – so he'll let them work things out between them.

A creature of passions, is Jiraiya – now he is angry, greatly so, but come nightfall, he'll be the first to crack jokes around a shared fire, and playfully claim that they're being too gloomy, that they have to lighten up. Orochimaru is different – cold, capricious, he harms as much as he heals, simply for the amusement of the act.

He sees the horror, the sorrow, the _anger_ in Tsunade's honey-brown eyes, and smiles at her. An instant later, he is lying in the dirt, having not anticipated her punching him. Hands that should be too delicate to possess that power bunch in the front of his shirt, lift him up until he is an inch away from her face. He can taste his own blood in his mouth, and probes a tooth with his tongue that was not wobbling before. It does not matter – he only has to wear this body a little longer – he no longer has to take care of it.

"Why?" Tsunade says. _Why would you say that – this isn't funny! That was my _brother_ you were talking about!_

"Why not?" he says, in a sing-song voice, unsure himself of why he said such a thing, though the answer is clear in his mind. Tsunade brings back an arm for a punch, but then tsks and drops him to the ground.

"Sometimes… you make me sick, Orochi-teme," she growls. _That joke… it wasn't funny at all._

He'd like to tell her that she makes _him_ sick – she and Jiraiya and Sarutobi and _everyone_ – standing there and pretending that they're perfect and he's not, and that they're right when he is wrong. He'd like to tell her that he'd have _killed_ Nawaki himself, to show her that she can't save everyone, and that he'd _smile_ over his corpse. He'd like to tell her that he would kill without hesitation those that he deems irrelevant, those that do not remain in his dreams.

"I apologise," he says instead, because whether he wants to admit it or not, she remains in his dreams – those nights when he _does_ have dreams, and he cannot see her die yet. _You should not have disturbed me._ She runs a hand through her hair, slightly confused.

"Jeez… I forgive you, Orochimaru, but you shouldn't make jokes about other people's family like that…" she helps him up, helps brush some of the dust from his robes. _Disturbed you when?_

"Hai…" he acts chastised, knowing that she knows it is false, knowing that it will fortify her… _perception_ of him. People are easier to manipulate when they feel they know you. _In the barn, when I was thinking._

"C'mon – can't let Jiraiya-baka get too far ahead, eh? He'll get into some trouble otherwise." She smiles, but Orochimaru can see it is false. _You did this because of the barn? Like I said, we're a team, and you're part of it too._

Both of their heads snapped up when they heard an unmistakable shout.

"Hurry up! You wanna get out of this place or what?"

--

One final stop, before they reach their rendezvous point – because Jiraiya twisted his ankle trying to race down the dirt-path, and stepping in a pothole. Now he winces as Tsunade tries to fix things, and they trade insults like an old married couple. Orochimaru stands to the side, wonders _what_ made the hole, and then spies a thin, wire, almost invisible in the rain, running out of the hole and through the muddy path, into the abandoned village. At the same time as he realises this, he _smells_ three bodies, unwashed, loitering just outside of his vision. He palms a kunai, and whistles – instantly catching the attention of his team-mates. _There are intruders. They are hiding in the village._

"Hey, Tsunade, let me get up – I can stand, damnit!" _Understood. Let _me_ deal with them, Orochimaru – I've got some pent up anger to release._ One of Jiraiya's hands moved slowly to his waist, and then he leapt. There was a startled gasp, and Orochimaru frowned – the voice was too young, _far_ too young to be any threat.

"Hey, Orochi-teme, you made me scare some kids!" Jiraiya sounded pleased and angry at the same time, and when he poked his head up it was with more of a smile than a frown, and a struggling, orange-haired child, the scruff of his neck gripped tightly in one giant fist.

"Lemme go! Lemme go, or I'll… I'll…" The boy threw a punch, which impacted harmlessly on Jiraiya's chest, and then Jiraiya dropped him, face-first into the mud. The boy spat it out, then whirled on Jiraiya, shaking a fist angrily. "You're comin' through the village? You gotta pay the toll, then!"

"Oh, a toll?" Jiraiya raised his eyebrows comically. "And just what _is_ this 'toll', kid?" The boy stuck his hand out, and scowled.

"Food. Whatcha got?" He glanced over at Tsunade when she came over to join them, and Orochimaru noticed the slight tensing of his body, ready to spring away if he thought he was going to be tricked. Then he focused on the two _other_ presences, hidden from sight still. Was this a trap, with the child to lure them into a false sense of security?

He could feel _some_ sense of foreboding, at the very least.

"Poor kid…" Tsunade put one hand on the head of the orange-haired boy, whose scowl grew larger.

"Name's _Yahiko_, lady," he said, and Tsunade nodded before reaching into her bag for her ration-pack, filled with biscuit-like bars, supposedly filled with all sorts of nutrients.

"Here you go – Jiraiya probably already ate all his," she said with a smile, and ruffled the boy's hair. He squirmed, then grabbed the rations from her and jumped back, though made no move to run further. With deliberate slowness he unwrapped one bar, and took a bite. After chewing thoroughly, still with both eyes on Jiraiya and Tsunade, he swallowed, and then gave a brief nod.

"Konan! Nagato! It ain't poisoned!" He called out, and the two others, who had before been merely scents, nameless faceless shapeless presences, poked tiny heads cautiously around a stone doorframe, before edging out into the rain, into unfamiliar territory.

"Three of you? Where's your parents, kid?" Jiraiya placed hands on hips, glancing from one child to the next. The dark-haired one, face hidden by a mop of black hair began to shudder, and then cry, whilst the blue-haired child gave a small, childish glare to Jiraiya.

"They're orphans," Tsunade said softly, and Orochimaru knew immediately _why_ he had felt foreboding.

"Orphans…" he muttered, then lifted his arm. It was almost a reflex, he thought, as he cried "Sen'eijashu!" Tsunade only managed to look at him in shock and horror as the violet serpents closed the space between them, but Jiraiya, looking into his eyes, saw intention written clearly, and was already leaping towards him.

"Orochimaru!" he yelled, as the snakes wrapped around the three children, mouths opening with a hiss in order to deliver a single bite. The blue-haired child screamed, and Yahiko looked at her panickedly.

"Konan!" he cried out, and then cursed as coils tightened, bound his arms to his sides.

Orochimaru gave the three children a sad, knowing smile. (I know how you feel – only one who does)… and then Jiraiya's fist collided with his face, and the larger man bore him to the ground.

"What the _hell_ are you doing!?" _They're _children,_ Orochimaru!_

"They're _orphans._" As if that explained everything. "It's… the _kindest_ thing to do – send them on to meet their parents, instead of letting them live on, bitter and alone…" _They're like me._ He turned his head towards the three frightened children, gave a small, sad smile. "Do not be afraid – it is almost like a kiss – a kiss goodnight, and then you can see your parents aga…" he was cut off in a hiss as Tsunade stamped on his arm, breaking it with ease. The snakes writhed in agony, coils loosening, and then Yahiko leapt free, grabbing his fellow orphans, and dragging them out.

"Run for it!" he screamed, and sent one look back at the Densetsu no Sannin – a fiery, hate-filled look that promised _vengeance_. Then he was gone too.

After a while, Tsunade healed his arm, setting the broken bone in place and accelerating its natural healing with the use of medical chakra.

"I just want to get home," she said when she was done. "I've had enough of war, and fighting, and talk of death. I just… want to leave this behind."

"Yeah… Still, better we do this than our kids, or their kids, when they're grown up. I'll be _damned_ before I see kids have to go through this shit again." A glare, pointed everywhere _except _at Orochimaru.

"I was being kind," he said, almost in a whisper. And he was, he knew that – orphans… orphans with nobody to love them… would turn out like him. As Jiraiya said – better them than others. _Because we are strong._

Jiraiya scoffed, but met Orochimaru's gaze.

"If that was you being _kind_, I don't want to see you get angry." In most other circumstances, that would be the joke needed – the taunt to break the ice, and let them forget everything except each other.

Nobody laughed this time. Perhaps they truly had seen enough war, at least for now. How many casualties had there been, how many friends that were now faceless – names and memories only. How many casualties had _they_ caused? Tsunade didn't like to think of such things – hadn't ever since Orochimaru had pointed out off-handedly that she'd destroyed a hidden bunker with a single punch, and buried its inhabitants inside. He had been kind enough not to show her the child's shrivelled skull he found – monkey-sized and monkey-shaped. (had anyone ever loved it? Ever said its name the way Tsunade said 'Nawaki?')

"You don't know… _neither_ of you know… how painful it is… to see your parents ripped from you, ripped from life. You don't know how painful it is to _survive…_" Yellow slits of eyes met the brown eyes of his team-mates, and he rubbed his recently-healed elbow-joint. "Those three… they will harvest their pain _forever_, and it will twist them irrevocably. Even… even had we not met them…" He left _they would become like me_ unsaid.

"If… if you lose your family," Tsunade began to say, though her eyes were downcast. "Then you make a new one – that's how the world works. That's why you two… you're like brothers…" _We're a family._

"I… I will make a world…" Orochimaru whispered, as he rose to his feet. "I will make a world where _nobody_ will ever lose their family…" Jiraiya gave Tsunade a half-scared look, like a child hearing what it shouldn't.

"Is this… what you were talking about before? Your dream?" he chose his words carefully, omitting _you're mad – you've taken one blow too many to the head,_ and _If you wanted to save families, why didn't you do anything back in the village?_

"It's… not really a dream… I haven't had a dream in nine years…" (ever since he signed the Snake contract. Sarutobi-sensei says that it's a side-effect, that he has become slightly reptilian due to the snakes' influence.) "I can't have dreams, not naturally – so I have to make them instead – it's more of an ambition. That's why… that's why I have to become Hokage – so I can use the power of the Hokage, and find a way… find a way to make this dream… into reality." He wasn't aware when he'd begun smiling, and missed the clearly worried look on the faces of his team-mates.

"We'd better keep going. Sakumo-kun's waiting for us," Tsunade said, and she turned to leave. Jiraiya just _looked _at Orochimaru, at once so knowing and so foolish.

_You really believe that, huh, Orochimaru?_

_We all have to have a purpose, Jiraiya. This is mine._

"You two, come on!" Tsunade called back, and Jiraiya held up his hand to say _'just a minute – I just need to take care of something'_ His eyes never left Orochimaru's.

"You're crazy, you know that? You're the smartest one of us three, and you _really_ think you can do the impossible…"_Some things… not even the greatest of geniuses can accomplish._

"I've always had the biggest dreams, Jiraiya. Always the biggest, even when I can't dream anymore…" _This is why I need your help. One man cannot do this – but the two of us… the three of us… there's _nothing_ we cannot do._

After a moment more of contemplation, Jiraiya stuck his hand out.

"Well… what have we got to lose?"_ I meant what I said in the cave – 'stick together, until our dreams are fulfilled. You know me – I don't _break_ those kind of promises._

"Thank you," he managed to say, and took the larger man's scarred hand in his own. _I know you don't. That's why I need you._

Abruptly, he felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck, and realised soon after that it was the heat of the sun.

"Kami above… it stopped raining…" Jiraiya looked up at the sky in stunned disbelief.

"We're about to leave Ame," Orochimaru replied, and smiled into the sky – whilst rain may have no true colour, be as base and slippery and _chameleon_ as it could, you could not lie once the veil of clouds was drawn back. Blue sky – bright sun… the beginning of a new…

"Let's go, Orochimaru! Tsunade-hime's waiting for us!"

Orochimaru nodded, looked once more at the sun, then walked away from it, to follow the path of his friends – the path leading towards his dream.

A/N: So - no getting trained by one of the Sannin _this_ time, Pein! Next chapter - Hatake Sakumo, some old war stories, and a couple of surprises waiting back in Konoha.

Review Focus for this chapter is the Yahiko-Konan-Nagato scene. Reviews are appreciated, as always.

EDIT: Just noticed that the first half of the chapter didn't have italicised "silent-conversation." Fixed that now.


	3. A Path Never Travelled

Chapter Three – A Path Never Travelled:

The rendezvous point was a castle, supposedly created by the Sandaime Tsuchikage at a time when Iwa's domination had stretched into Hi no Kuni itself, in the darkest days of the Nidaime's reign.

Now, the flags and pennants bore the symbol of Konoha instead of Iwa's twin rocks, and Iwa had been forced back past even Amegakure. The defences were still formidable, and Orochimaru had wondered often just how Iwa had managed to lose it – all he knew was that Sarutobi-sensei had struck a deal with Suna, whilst they were still allies, and that the renowned puppet master Chiyo had played some part in it. It was almost a shame that they were enemies now – Konoha could have done without having to worry about the additional threat of the militant Kazekage gnawing at its south-western border.

"Finally… Kurotsuki castle…" Tsunade gave her team-mates a tired smile, worn too often and too recently, Orochimaru decided, and he focused instead on the pale face that stared at them from a high window. Unmistakably, he saw the Hitai-ate of Kusagakure, and then the face disappeared.

Before he could speak, the gates began to creak open, massive iron edifices supported by a complex system of weights and pulleys… Against any non-shinobi army, the defences would be impermeable, he decided, and they would be formidable even for shinobi to pass.

As the gates opened, there was a brief flash of sunlight on metal, and a pair of shuriken cut through the air. Jiraiya, standing at the front of the group, barely had time to curse and whip out a kunai, deflecting both with a wild swing.

"Not too shabby, Jiraiya-san," piped up a voice from within the gates, and Jiraiya scowled at the lanky figure leaning on the wall. His eyes were half-closed, but contained a bright spark of vitality, transforming them from a dull nut-brown to a bright, almost hazel colour. Set into his face, they seemed far too young, playful, _innocent_. They were barely visible under a shock of spiky white hair, tapering off into a short ponytail. At his side hung his famous Tanto, the Chakra Sabre, and his never-still hands twitched and clenched in the air. He generally exuded an air of impatient, barely-suppressed energy. Whilst to some he would look dangerously green, and indeed did attend to tasks with all the patience of a freshly-graduated Genin, few people showed further than Hatake Sakumo that appearances were deceiving. From personal experience, Orochimaru knew that in the blink of an eye he could change from a carefree, unthreatening man to an elite killer.

"Sakumo…" Jiraiya began to growl, before Tsunade gave him a not-too-gentle tap on the back.

"It is good to see you too, Sakumo-kun," she said, with a warm smile, and Sakumo shrugged in reply, before one of his bright-brown eyes flitted to Orochimaru. There was no apology in them, for the wound he had indirectly caused the older man, but Sakumo rarely apologised for anything. His life was too fixed on glory and triumph to waste time on even the smallest of regrets.

"Holding up okay, Orochimaru?" That would be the closest he got to any sort of apology – a mere acknowledgement of his wound. Ironic, considering Sakumo's insatiable hunger for acknowledgement, consequences be damned. The same hunger that led to this wound in the first place.

Assassination_. The word rolled so sweetly off the tongue, coiled and sleek and slithery, the purr of a cat and the hiss of a snake, combined. A purple sound. _Assassination_. Dangerous work – secrecy was needed, a single false step would lead to death. But danger was the spice to the dish of life – without it, it would be far too bland, unpalatable. So he crouched in the shadows at the edge of the road, the patient hunter, smothering the insatiable urge to stalk his quarry. _

_His snakes and his senses would inform him of the approach of their target, but it would be the one waiting next to him who would strike the first blow. Hatake Sakumo clenched and unclenched his bandage-wrapped fists, making soft, leathery sounds as he squeezed the hilt of his sword. His jaw was clenched, and worked back and forth, adding the percussion of grinding teeth to the melody of the night. He saw Orochimaru staring, and annoyance sparked in those far-too-young eyes._

_  
"Keep your eyes on the road, Orochimaru. I don't want you to screw up – the Mizukage's a serious threat."_

_Sharp, sharp, cutting words, _commands_, almost, from the youth's mouth. Orochimaru chuckled, and Sakumo tensed. "Shut up" came out in a hiss, and his eyes narrowed to slits. Such an _eager_ little puppy, this one – straining at the end of its tether, in order that it may transform into a wolf, and tear apart its chosen prey. How boring, to be so blunt. How very, very tedious, to move so directly to the point. _

_He stiffened as he caught a strange scent on the wind, tasted it with his tongue. It tasted of silken robes and polished steel, of sea-salt and faded blood, of power and servitude. It tasted of _Mizukage_._

"_Our guest has arrived, Sakumo-kun," he whispered, and leisurely drew a kunai from within the folds of his clothing, before whistling, one-two-three high-pitched notes, to simulate the call of a particular crane that made its home in this damp corner of the world._

_A heavy pause, and then one-two notes answered in return, to signify that the others had heard. Not quite perfect, though. They lacked the harsh tone of nature, and he could hear the syrup-sweet melody of Tsunade's voice laced within them. However, it would not matter – the difference was so slight that only his team would recognise it. The hapless Mizukage and his retainer never broke step, continuing their march into an ambush. As they closed in, twenty, fifteen, ten metres away, Sakumo tensed once more, half-crouched, ready to spring, to strike, to shed blood. His gaze was focused firmly on the Mizukage himself, the most dangerous, and yet most prestigious of trophies. Orochimaru selected the other shinobi as his own target, and then they both stopped. The Mizukage's icy blue eyes flickered across the path, never still, and his companion couldn't keep the anxiety off his face as he timidly asked "Mizukage-dono?" He received no response._

_One second crawled past after another, agonisingly slowly. _Why have they stopped? Have they seen us? Should we attack now?_ Then the Mizukage sighed, and drew his sword. Liquid steel poured from his scabbard, flexible and beautiful and oh-so-deadly, and he spoke in a tone as soft and as sharp as his sword._

"_Come then, you snakes. Slither out of the grass, and fight me." They obliged him, in a rush of silent shadows. Sakumo had drawn his Tanto in a heartbeat, and clashed with the Mizukage in a wondrous dance of woven steel, lit by the chakra flaring from his sabre and accompanied by the sweet sound of clashing blades. In a second's worth of glances, Jiraiya joined the young Hatake whilst Tsunade and Orochimaru fought the Mizukage's attendant, a callow child, whose eyes betrayed his fear, wide open and shaking. Orochimaru held his gaze for a moment, just a moment, but enough to project his Ki upon him._

_Then they were men no longer. One was small, quivering, doomed. _Prey_. The other was large, icy-eyed and steel-limbed, venom seeping from its fangs and naked hunger in its slitted eyes. _Predator_. The prey could not break its stare, knowing full well that if it took its eyes off its tormentor it would be snapped up, killed, no more, yet fully knowing that as soon as its predator lost interest, the same fate would befall it anyway. Futile to escape, impossible to fight back, still it clung to the last threads of its life, sought to prolong it. How very, very _mortal_. He struck out lazily, as the prey screamed and covered itself, and when he opened his eyes, the eviscerated body of the dying shinobi groaned miserably, attempted to stuff its intestines back into the gaping hole in its stomach. Somewhere, far away, Tsunade was throwing up, and Orochimaru lost interest. Passing his retching team-mate, he held out his kunai._

"_If you wish to grant him one last mercy, Tsunade-hime, feel free." He smiled at her shocked fury, then walked on to where the Mizukage was holding off Jiraiya and Sakumo. Moments later, he tasted the death of the young shinobi, and smiled as he imagined the dilemma Tsunade had faced before she succumbed to her compassion, and killed him._

_Sakumo and Jiraiya were breathing heavily, the former with a cut that bled into his right eye and welded it shut, the latter letting out wisps of smoke with every laboured breath. Evidently, Jiraiya had attempted to meet Suiton with Katon, with predictable results. Sakumo saw him coming, and the youth scowled._

_  
"Stay out of this, Orochimaru! He's _mine_ to kill!" The Mizukage glanced back for a fraction of a second, but his eyes were too quick to ensnare in Orochimaru's trap, and his will most likely too strong to be trapped in the first place. He pounced at Sakumo, who parried, lunged, dodged back, desperately evading a blow that would have severed neck from shoulder. His free hand threw a kunai laced with exploding tags, which was snapped out of the air with a sword-slice, discarded three metres to the side. Elegant as a dancer, the Mizukage stepped over Jiraiya's hair, sidestepped his follow-up punch, and pushed the burly shinobi into Sakumo amid a tirade of cursing. Orochimaru found another kunai in his hand as the Mizukage paused, and issued a silent challenge. Orochimaru obliged him._

_He was fast, lunging in, snakes bursting from his wrist to coil and bite, but the Mizukage was faster. His sword moved like the shadow of the wind, severed snakes in a mess of scales and blood, and then separated his kunai into four slivers of metal. Orochimaru leapt back on instinct, and tossed the handle of his destroyed kunai aside._

So… this is the power of one that calls himself "Kage", eh? Foolish, foolish, to face him on _his_ terms…

_However, Orochimaru _specialised_ in forcing others to fight on _his_ terms. He flashed through seals and ended on the Ram, before the ground in a circle around him shifted and cracked. The clearly defined shape of a serpent biting its own tail became visible, and then the ground by its head parted, and the soil near its tail filled in on itself. The Mizukage saw the trail denoting the serpent's approach easily, and leapt backwards, out of reach, before it hit him. An inky-black head reared from the earth, with a gaping yellow pit for a maw, before it lunged belowground again._

Kurotsuchi Hebi_… that would keep him occupied for a while._

_Keep him off balance… Keep him far from you… Orochimaru bit his thumb, and drew a scroll from his waistband. He unfurled it with his bloody digit, leaving a scarlet line trailing over the Kanji for "snake"._

_An instant later, a twin-headed snake the size of his arm creeped out of the scroll, and coiled around his arm and shoulders, with one flickering tongue on each side of his head. He felt his left arm itch, and did not need to look to see that the ink-black markings would be growing more distinct. Soon he would not have to carry scrolls with him, and could simply summon snakes of any sort directly from his arm. All, save for the queen Manda, would be under his dominion._

_In the distance, mirrored steel cut through inky scales, and the serpent howl-hissed, before forcing the Mizukage to dodge a tree-trunk tail. Jiraiya clapped a hand down on Orochimaru's shoulder, and grinned._

"_So we get a bit of a breather, eh? You got anything planned to take down this bastard?" Sakumo watched them silently, keeping a tight grip on his tanto._

"_He requires balance – watch him, he cannot strike effectively when forced off-balance by the snake. We must deny him any chance of recovery from our blows."_

_Tsunade smiled grimly at that, and cracked her knuckles._

"_Looks like I'm up." Tsunade, the brawler, with the force of an earthquake behind each of her blows. Combined with her resilience and Medical Ninjutsu, she was a good counter for such a precision-dependent fighter._

"_Great, then me and Orochimaru can nail the bastard when he's in mid-air. You up for that?"_

"_I'm going with you," grunted Sakumo, whose right eye was closed, and covered in red liquid. He dripped tears of blood, Orochimaru glanced at him for just a moment, then nodded, as his snake fell into a thousand pieces of blackened turf. The Mizukage stood still and watched them, ready to react as best suited the situation, and at a single hand-signal the four Konoha-nin leapt into action._

_Tsunade's punch shattered the earth, and slightly staggered the Mizukage, but he leapt into the air to avoid the full force of the blow. As he rose, however, he saw the three coming towards him, and tried to stabilise in the air, and strike a decisive blow. He failed, and lashed out wildly at Sakumo, who parried, and delivered a kick into the Mizukage's face. He dropped to the ground, cursing and touching his newly-broken nose, and the three shinobi landed around him. Sakumo had his cocky grin again, and Orochimaru did not like it – his attack had prevented either him or Jiraiya from delivering a mortal blow to the Mizukage._

"_Time to die, bastard," he hissed, and leapt towards the Mizukage again, but he had his balance now. One, two, three slashes they traded, in the flash of a second, and then Sakumo was on the floor, and the Mizukage drew his sword from the youth's side with a wet sound. He pointed the bloody blade at Orochimaru, then, eyes fixed with the cold certainty of a predator._

_  
"You are the most dangerous one," he snarled. "Do not expect to live much longer, snake." His speed was such that Orochimaru was hard-pressed to survive – dodge one blow, parry the next, watch in despair as his kunai went spinning into the groove his Tsuchi Hebi had left. The snake coiled around his body spat twin streams of acid, but the Mizukage danced aside, and swung – a beheading blow – or so it would be, had not Tsunade chosen that moment to punch the ground again. The Mizukage lurched one way, Orochimaru another, and the sword-stroke that would have taken his head instead sunk into his shoulder, and deep down, parting through skin and flesh and bone, turning the entire left side of Orochimaru's body into a single fixed point of searing pain. He collapsed to his knees, right hand clutching his shoulder, or _shoulders_, now. He did not dare to look at his wound, but felt the gap, larger than a clenched fist, burning enough to make him scream with agony. Through gritted teeth he methodically sought out each of his Tenketsu, and flared chakra, ignoring the spike of pain it drove into his head. When he was done, the pain was… lessened, replaced with a great numbness, and he pulled the two halves of his body together, looking desperately for something to hold it in place. So focused on his task was he that he forgot about the man that had struck the blow, but when animal instinct fled him for rational thought, his breath caught in his throat, and he stared dumbfounded at the shadow that fell over him. The Mizukage had… not pity, but _disappointment_ in his eyes, as he brought his sword back for a final blow._

_Orochimaru could do nought but gape at the impending death, and then someone stood over him, outmatched and outclassed, but defiantly _red_._

"_Take another step, you old geezer. I _dare_ ya." Jiraiya shook, with… not fear… _outrage?_ The larger man, so easy to read, confused him. Who stood before an overwhelming foe and felt _anger_ rather than despair? There was a brief scuffle between the two, a foregone conclusion, a mere formality, before Jiraiya joined him in the dirt, coughing and hacking as he held both hands to the puncture wound in his chest._

_  
"S-shit…" he grimaced with the pain, then grinned. "Guess this is it, eh? N-never thought I'd die… _here_…" _

_His sentiments exactly. The Mizukage stood over them, a distant figure of death, before the third of their number stepped up to fight him. With his attention focused on her, however, Tsunade's blows were foreseen, countered ahead of time. A duck to avoid a tree-felling kick, a quick lean to the side to avoid the follow-up punch, a quick hop to dodge the sweep that would have crippled him. He had the measure of her attacks, but Orochimaru saw through the desperate gambit of his team-mate – the Mizukage knew her _offence, _but not what _defences_ she had in store. Had she been fighting _Orochimaru_, then he would have methodically and systematically taken out her limbs, wear her down before committing to a final strike. The Mizukage, on the other hand, simply wanted a swift resolution, and not knowing who he was fighting, did not realise the danger of seeking this._

_Finding an intentional opening in her defences, the Mizukage sank his sword into Tsunade's stomach, and Orochimaru did not need to see her face to see the triumphant grin that would be spread across it. One delicate hand wrapped itself around the Mizukage's wrist, and _squeezed_, refusing to let him go even as she crushed his forearm into a useless pulp of blood and bone._

_  
"Sakumo! Now!" Sakumo, standing, hefted his Tanto with a faint grin._

"_Your gamble paid off for once…" he said, and threw it. The Mizukage's pain-grimace changed swiftly, from fear at his situation to a grim realisation and acceptance of his death. Amazing, how a composition of muscle-movements and chemical responses could elicit such an external response…_

_And then he was falling back, a look of utmost shock on his face, the sword sliding out of Tsunade's wound having tasted the blood of all four of its opponents.. Orochimaru could not help but stare in curiosity, though he could do little more _than_ stare._

_Sakumo staggered forward unsteadily, and grinned._

"_Told you, you old bastard… Time to die. Heh. Took you long enough, though…" His laughter began as a raucous cough, and then turned mad, without heed to who may be listening. The Mizukage's shocked face stared at the evening sky, a view no doubt ruined by the foot-and-a-half of Chakra-infused material that protruded from his face, directly between his eyes._

_As Sakumo stalked over to retrieve his sword and take the Mizukage's own, Tsunade knelt in the bloody grass, face drawn at the sight of Orochimaru's cloven shoulder, then eyebrows lifting in surprise at the smile on his face._

"_Assassination… such a very _sweet_ thing," he said before he blacked out._

The smile this time was harder.

"I'm fine, thank you, Sakumo-kun." Wounds to the flesh were always curable. Wounds to what lay beneath, to the queer little sense of _pride_ so treasured, now, _those_ were unforgivable.

Orochimaru smiled with his mouth, but did not disguise the playful sense of vengeance from his eyes – retribution would be sweet, indeed. A slight, almost imperceptible twitch was the only movement that betrayed Sakumo's stoic stance, and he sought to cover it up immediately with false bravado – when faced with a serpent's venom, even the strongest of wolves would flinch.

"So… this Hanzō guy… how strong is he?" He made a show of studying his bandage-wrapped knuckles, and Tsunade gave Orochimaru a not-too-gentle-not-too-hard tap to, in true Tsunade fashion, tell him to knock it off.

"He's… strong," she said, first, checking her team-mates with stern glances. "He's as strong as Sarutobi-sensei. Be careful out there, Sakumo-kun." Sakumo grunted in reply, and rolled forward on the balls of his feet, standing straight rather than slouched.

"Sounds like a challenge… if you guys couldn't take him on, then I guess I'll have to actually _work_ to beat him, eh? But anyway… I'm out of here – Umino-san will tell you what's up." Lifting one hand in the Tiger seal, he disappeared in a blur of leaves, and Jiraiya noisily let out the breath he'd been holding in.

"Jeez… I can't see how you can stand that brat, Tsunade. Stuck up little piece of…" He shook his shaggy mane, but when he looked up, both of his team-mates were already entering the castle.

--

Umino Toyogoro was, unlike his team-mate, a reserved and polite shinobi, pre-emptively apologising as Sakumo set out, with a bow deeper than usual.

"Sakumo-kun's just impatient, you see…" he said once Tsunade persuaded him that he didn't need to apologise. "We were down on the front with Suna, and Sakumo-kun was just beginning to see the chinks in Sabaku no Shiro's strategies… but if you ask me… it may be a good thing we left." The last of Sakumo's team-mates interrupted Toyogoro with a grunt.

"_May_ be? Speak for yourself, Umino – I didn't want to be anywhere _near_ Suna when that old crone Chiyo came after Sakumo for killing her precious son. Sakumo might be a cut above the average nin, but hell, even he'd be hard-pressed against Suna's finest puppet-master, and we're just way out of our league… Seems like we just jumped from the frying pan into the fire, though – this Hanzō guy sounds even worse." The man absently scratched his red clan-markings, and the large nin-dog by his side growled as Toyogoro lowered his head.

"Inumaru-kun… Do you have to be so blunt about things?" The aforementioned Inuzuka was too busy cleaning out his ear with a clawed finger to pay attention, and Toyogoro sighed half-heartedly. "It's true, Sakumo-kun fought with Chiyo's son and his wife. They fought very well, with the husband using the wife as a living puppet, but Sakumo-kun killed the both of them, and Chiyo herself has sworn vengeance. Sandaime-sama thought it would be best if we were removed from the region – he's trying to make peace, after all, but now, in Ame… Sakumo-kun's going to insist we fight Hanzō…"

"Nah, don't sweat it – Sarutobi-sensei'll keep him in check, you'll see!" Jiraiya grinned, and clapped a hand down on the shoulder of the smaller man. "You'll get through this in one piece, eh, Toyogoro, Inumaru! Besides, your wife's hardly gonna let you just go and die, eh, Inu? Leave her with a child and no husband?"

Inumaru's unconcerned face fell at that.

"Nah… Tsume… She'd hunt me down in the next life if I died here… Wouldn't even wait for the kid to be born… And the kid, gotta think of the kid. Bleh, I 'ain't gonna die here. I'm gonna catch up with Sakumo 'fore he does something stupid." Man and dog sped past on all fours, disappearing noisily over the horizon in a matter of moments.

"Thank you, Jiraiya-san – there's just one thing I have to say before we leave – Sandaime-sama sent new orders for you guys; to escort a convoy of refugees to Konoha. You'll have the support of shinobi from our allies in Kusa to help you. There'll be further orders for you three when you reach Konoha… But I guess this is farewell for now, Jiraiya-san, Tsunade-san, Orochimaru-san." Toyogoro gave three quick bows to punctuate his farewell, then followed his team-mates north, as the Sannin prepared for the slog eastwards.

--

The convoy was small, considering the size of the battles that the Sannin had left behind them. Most likely, more people had died than had been able to escape the fires of war. Danzō's forces must surely have made a generous contribution to this. Barely a score of men, women and children, huddled in rags and the blankets provided by Konoha, remained here in sullen, insignificant silence.

There was nothing more pathetic to look upon than those that had lost everything, it seemed. You could tell, by looking at the hollowness of a man's eyes, or the way a young girl walked like a stoop-shouldered crone, that there was nothing left in this world for them – broken by the whims and vagaries of life, they were barely human – just shells of existence that lived without purpose, and wished for death.

It was almost sickening to look at them. In their blank, vacant eyes, Orochimaru saw his own reflection, a child staggering after the shadows of the dead, lurching ever-so-close to the abyss… He resolved not to think on that, and directed his gaze to… others.

The Kusa-nin stood gathered in their own little group, four of them. They looked like many things – unkempt, cold, ruthless, brutal – just as the many tales of Kusa had painted the image of its denizens as near-monsters, somewhere on the scale between Iwa and Kiri in terms of brutality –the type of shinobi the weak-hearted feared to employ, and the cruel actively sought out.

But when Orochimaru looked upon them, he saw not monsters, but prey – of the most valuable sort. His body was failing him, each step, each breath, each thought, and of these four, these lucky, privileged four, one would succeed this body, and become his new host.

"Do you know any of them?" he overheard Tsunade whisper to Jiraiya, and the big man shook his head. _Good, the less knowledge the better. The less chance they would know them well enough to actually care about their disappearances._

Through careful study, he saw that one of them, a woman, stood before the others, and that in their own whispered speech, they appeared to defer to her. So it was to her that he directed his attention, when the Sannin stood face to face with their fellow shinobi.

She was a head shorter than him, with a face that was rounder, but her hair was just as dark as his, and her skin just as pale. Under her flak vest, she wore tan and green clothing, mottled in order to blend in with the forest, no doubt, and at her side was a richly decorated scabbard, in direct contrast to her modest garb.

"So… you're the Konoha-nin we've been waiting for… Sarutobi's students." Her lips curved into a crooked smile. "I hope you're up to fighting if it comes our way – you guys look pretty banged up; but then again… there isn't really much to fear this close to Konoha." She turned on her heel, and nodded to a short, fat male with… base emotions unveiled in his piggy eyes, and he whistled.

"We've only just got here, and you're leaving? Shouldn't we at least know each other's _names_ before we set out?" Tsunade scowled at the dark-haired woman, who didn't look back.

"We'll have plenty of time for introductions on the road. Like I said – it's not like there's anything dangerous waiting out there for us."

Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged glances, and then looked back at Orochimaru, who easily read concern for his frailty there. He sent his eyes to the ground quickly, to hide the mirth in them – the more innocent these two remained, the better. He would bear his sins alone.

And, as he looked on at the four Kusa-nin, he knew that he would be adding many more to his list within the next three days.

**A/N:**

**I guess this is the part where I say "I'm not dead!", eh? I'm very sorry about the massive gap in updating time between this chapter and last, but I've been suffering from the worst case of Writer's Block I've ever encountered. (Not to mention I rewrote this entire chapter 6 times…) It was originally going to be over twice this size, but I cut off the rest to repackage into Chapter 4.**

**So, nowhere near as much character development for the Sannin this chapter, but we get a look at others from that time – Sakumo and his team-mates (who were chosen for a reason), as well as the reason why Chiyo hates Sakumo so much being "revealed" (This is just my interpretation of it).**

**Anyway… Next chapter will be the last of this mini-arc, and I hope to get it out far quicker than I did this one!**


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